CNN “Tonight” host Don Lemon responded to the recent mass shooting in Thousands Oaks, California, by saying “homegrown killers” are what Americans should fear, not the migrant caravan of which President Trump repeatedly has stoked fears.
On Thursday, Lemon discussed the latest mass shooting, which happened inside of a country music bar. The gunman, who’s been identified as 28-year-old Marine veteran Ian David Long, opened fired inside Borderline Bar & Grill on Wednesday night and killed 12 people before committing suicide.
(photo credit: CNN/ YouTube sceenshot)
The news reporter played back a small snippet of the shooting and described the silence inside of the bar as “chilling.”
“Americans aren’t safe in a country and western bar. They’re not safe in synagogues,” Lemon said while listing off a number of places where mass shootings have taken place within recent years. “Not safe in churches, schools, supermarkets, concerts, offices, gay bars, military bases, and newsrooms. And don’t forget about malls and baseball fields. I could have a longer list here.”
Lemon circled back to Trump’s comments he made about migrants making their way to the U.S. border and scolded the president for being more focused on migrant caravans traveling through Mexico as opposed to the violence happening in America.
“Remember just last week when the president told you it was the caravan you were supposed to be afraid of — the caravan he is strangely not talking about much since the election?” said the CNN host. “Well, the caravan didn’t shoot up that bar in Thousand Oaks. Which caravan did the shooter belong to? None of them as far as I know. The caravan didn’t kill 11 people in that Pittsburgh synagogue.”
He added, “Homegrown killers are the problem. … Homegrown killers are the problem. The question is, when are we going to do something about it?”
Lemon’s scolding of the president comes after the reporter’s “white men” are the “biggest terror threats” in the country remarks, which he faced major backlash for.
